General
widowmaker
What does widowmaker mean?
A loose limb, broken treetop, or dead branch hung up in the canopy that can fall without warning — usually onto whoever's working below. One of the top killers on wildland fires and a constant hazard during mop-up in burned timber, when fire-weakened trees start dropping pieces hours or days later. Lookouts are posted specifically to call them out; you don't sit, eat, or sleep under one.
"Don't bed down under that snag — there's a widowmaker hung up about forty feet up."
Origin
Logging and forestry slang dating to at least the late 19th century; carried into wildland firefighting vocabulary and codified in the NWCG glossary.
Frequently asked questions
What is a widowmaker set?
It's a single set of 20 reps taken to near-failure, most famously on the barbell back squat, using a weight you'd normally only do for around 10.
Why is it called a widowmaker?
The name reflects how brutal and exhausting a 20-rep squat set is — it leaves lifters gasping and wrecked, half-jokingly 'making widows.'
How do you do a 20-rep squat?
You load a weight you could squat for roughly 10 reps, then grind out 20 by taking deep breaths and pausing at the top between reps until you hit the number.
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